The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
The use of mobile devices, including smart-phones and tablets is increasing tremendously and impacting the way content providers provide content, specifically streaming content. Streaming content typically represents information that must be delivered in real time. This information could be, for example, video, audio, slide show, web tour, combinations of these, or any other real time application. (Examples of types of media files include: Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), Quicktime video files, WINDOWS Media Video (WMV), Audio Video Interleave (AVI), etc. Audio files include MPEG-4, WAV, MP3, etc. Examples of image file formats include: JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, etc.).
Many different types of devices are capable of receiving streaming content (e.g., a desktop computer, IPHONE, BLACKBERRY, NOKIA, ANDROID phones, etc.). Each of these different types of devices could include a different media player and a different protocol for receiving streaming content. More and more people are using mobile devices to receive streaming content, such as live events (e.g., sporting events and television shows), and pre-recorded video/audio programs. The streaming content is typically stored or buffered on a server connected to a network, e.g. the Internet. Upon receiving a request, the server delivers the requested streaming content to the mobile device. However, the wide variety of types of mobile devices, media players, and protocols can result in undelivered content and lower the overall user experience.